


The Methods I Do Best

by habitualwords



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hogwarts, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-09-09 06:30:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8879539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/habitualwords/pseuds/habitualwords
Summary: Everything starts, as it always does, with Seungkwan opening his mouth.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is somewhat a birthday gift for Dara, but also a marker for the first completed fic I've posted in the past two years. It's my first foray into Seventeen fic, so both concrit & compliments are accepted. Thank you to fleek for helping me beta this, as well as Cat & Reem for answering my many questions re: these two. hmu @imiaebum on twitter for an exclusive into the life of a baby carat.

Everything starts, as it always does, with Seungkwan opening his mouth.

  
“I dare Soonyoung and Wonwoo to make out.” Everyone cracks up except Wonwoo, Seokmin almost falling off his chair.

  
The books wheeze at them to shut up, and Wonwoo sees Madam Pince glare at them. Exams are far too close for them to even think of being banned from the library and he’s thankful for Seungcheol’s hissed _shut up_ , an occasionally effective method .

  
“I don’t want to make out with him, god knows where that filthy mouth has been,” Wonwoo rolls his eyes.

  
“I don’t want to make out with him, god knows where that filthy mouth has been,” Soonyoung imitates perfectly in Wonwoo’s voice. (Frustratingly.)

  
Seungcheol scoffs and pulls Chan up. “We have practice. Let us know how that dare works out.”

  
“Who schedules practice so close to dinner?” Seokmin mutters, still bent over his Charms homework.

  
“Seungcheol is obsessed with winning the house cup, even if he says he’s fine with losing.” Soonyoung scribbles down something in his Defense against the Dark Arts notes.

  
“Why aren't you going?” Seungkwan asks.

  
“Seungcheol wants Channie to learn how to find the Snitch even under less than optimal conditions.”

  
Wonwoo, for some reason, finds himself staring at Soonyoung’s hands instead of paying attention to the exchange.

  
He’s known those hands for six year, short fingers, calloused from Quidditch and scratched from dancing. Sometimes he wonders what it’s like to hold Soonyoung’s hand. To kiss the wonderful mouth that teases endlessly. Maybe fall asleep together on the astronomy tower; the detention would be worth it. They’re best friends but there’s a simmering, yearning, burning for anything Soonyoung can give him, and he’s not sure how much longer he can keep it bottled up, hidden away.

  
“I’m hungry,” Seungkwan whines. Seokmin pats him, still scrawling away at his work.

  
“Dinner in 15?” Seokmin asks. Soonyoung nods and Seungkwan whines louder.

  
It doesn’t matter to Wonwoo, because he’d already finished his work, something Soonyoung had teased him relentlessly for. He's staying here to be with his friends, and he has an Arithmancy essay due next week that he got a head start on. It takes willpower to not dwell on Seungkwan’s statement and ask himself if he’s made his big fat whatever-this-is on Soonyoung obvious. He’s too stubborn to admit what it actually is.  
  


*

  
Soonyoung has always been hyper aware of the way Wonwoo and him gravitate around each other but Seungkwan’s statement intensifies that feeling. Even now, he's sneaking peeks at Wonwoo as he writes his essay. There's that soft smile on his face, and it touches Soonyoung's heart. That smiles translates to _Wonwoo is content_ and when Wonwoo is content, it feels like nothing can go wrong. He can't remember the turning point of their friendship, the point at which he started craving all of Wonwoo's attention.

  
Maybe it was the Quidditch match in their fourth year. It was the house final and Wonwoo, someone who hated crowds and Quidditch matches with a passion, showed up to cheer for him. He remembers the huge lion on the flag, that roared Kwon Soonyoung every time he scored a goal. Maybe it was the dance recital in their third year. Soonyoung had practiced and practiced until he collapsed, and Wonwoo had stayed next to his bed in the infirmary, getting him everything he needed. It continued into subsequent practices, where Wonwoo would make sure Soonyoung wasn't pushing himself, even now.

  
(The reality is that it happened in their second year. Wonwoo stayed over during the summer holidays. That night, under Soonyoung's ceiling enchanted to look like his favourite constellations, Wonwoo had said he liked boys. Soonyoung's heart started beating a little faster.)

  
It's why there's this niggling feeling under his skin that's telling him to kiss Wonwoo, kiss Wonwoo, kiss Wonwoo. The same niggling feeling that he’s suppressed for the longest time, because it’s hard to believe he has a chance. But with the dare hanging in the air, the best case scenario was Wonwoo feeling the same way. The worst case scenario, on the other hand, was Soonyoung having to pass it off as him fulfilling the dare. It wouldn't be the first time he was dared this; the first time had involved Jun and whipped cream. The second outcome may break him, but in the scale of things, it's worth it.

  
"Are you anywhere near finishing that?" Wonwoo asks pointedly.

  
He is, but he likes pushing Wonwoo’s buttons. If it’s the only reaction he can get, he’ll take it.

  
"Shut up birdhead, I have a life."

  
Wonwoo chuckles, and Soonyoung feels weak.  
  


"If you call it a life."

  
"Can the two of you stop flirting, some people are trying to finish important essays." Seokmin is glaring now.

  
Next to Seokmin, Seungkwan has his face twisted in the way it does when he's hungry.  
  


"We're not flirting," Wonwoo sounds affronted.  
  


"You’re not flirting, I’m very hungry and I'm sure it's been 15 minutes, can we go to dinner now?" Seungkwan whines. Exams and a lack of food generally aren't a good combination when it comes to Seungkwan, Seokmin often being on the receiving end of it.  
  


"Yeah, yeah, calm down."  
  


Soonyoung's been raised around magic his whole life but it's still hypnotizing to watch their belongings rearrange themselves with the simple flick of a wand. As they're walking to the Great Hall, his mind races away. There's a broom closet located close to the hall that they're bound to pass, and while Wonwoo deserves being kissed somewhere better than a broom closet, it makes it easier to be passed off as reckless fun.  
  


"Watch out for a professor," Soonyoung hisses as he pushes Wonwoo into the broom closet.  
  


*

 

Allowing Soonyoung to physically manhandle him is just as easy as letting everything Soonyoung do play with his heart. There was this Muggle boyband video he'd watched, where confetti had exploded out of the hearts of the members. He kind of feels like that right now, showering this tiny space with mental confetti as his heart thuds away.  
  


"Soonyoung, if you push me again, I’ll jinx you." Wonwoo winces when his head bangs one of the shelves but Soonyoung has his hands fisted in Wonwoo's shirt. And broom closets are not ideal spaces to feel up your best friend (or something, they're something).  
  


"You look good today."  
  


"Kwon Soonyoung complimenting me? A miracle," Wonwoo says, deadpan.

  
Soonyoung laughs, and it's scary that Wonwoo knows what it looks like even though there’s little to no light in the closet. Scrunched up eyes, the widest grin on his face, blindingly white teeth, his head tilted back. He doesn't need light for it, the image is branded into his mind. He also knows his scarf has fallen, but he doesn't care that it's probably getting dirty. He's with Soonyoung and that's all that matters, all it comes down to. The lack of space, the blinding boy, the gentle smile he knows is there, the smell of Soonyoung's laundry detergent. Wonwoo's heart is racing, from anticipation, or something, like an 808.

  
"You know I'm not actually going to kiss you right?"

  
That's okay with Wonwoo. It sucks, but it's okay.

  
"I wouldn't actually want you to kiss me." A lie. Not the first that he’s told Soonyoung.

  
"Get out of there," Seokmin hisses from outside.

  
"Sure you don't, Jeon Wonwoo." Soonyoung pats his cheek instead and Wonwoo wants to push his face into that hand.

  
Push his heart into Soonyoung's hand. Hope Soonyoung will take care of it like one of the many creatures he loves. Soonyoung is the one who picks his scarf up and ties it around his neck and he flushes from the proximity, grateful for the lack of light that hides it.

  
"What was the kiss like?" Seungkwan asks the minute they step out. He stares at Wonwoo's neck for a moment, but says nothing. "It looks like you two had fun."

  
"The kind of fun only _I_ know how to give Wonwoo."

  
Seokmin laughs, and it makes Wonwoo smile.

  
He's going to get ridiculous amounts of teasing from this but it's worth the memory of Soonyoung pressed so close to him. (There were other times. He tries to bury it.)

 

"Nice scarf, traitor!" Jihoon is the first to yell when he enters the hall.

  
He looks down, only to see a red and gold scarf tied innocently around his neck. Taunting him is his own blue and bronze scarf, thrown casually around Soonyoung's shoulders. Like it belongs. Maybe it always has. Jihoon’s exclamation has people staring at them and it's something out of Wonwoo's sweetest nightmares. It's common practice for couple from different houses to exchange scarfs, but they're not a couple.

  
"Soonyoung?" Minghao asks quietly when he sits down.

  
"Soonyoung is dating Wonwoo?" Byun Baekhyun, a seventh year Gryffindor, yells.

  
His boyfriend Jongdae smacks him across the back of his head, and his other boyfriend, Minseok, starts giggling. Now that's a messy love affair. Not unlike the one raging in Wonwoo's mind and heart. He grimaces.

  
“Soonyoung,” Jihoon snickers.

  
"Well hello there, boyfriend." Soonyoung is smirking, like this is the most fun he's had in his 6 years at Hogwarts.

  
Soonyoung squeezes himself between Wonwoo and Minghao, grin not faltering in the slightest. And wrapped around his neck, taunting Wonwoo again, is his house scarf. It's a bit too long for Soonyoung, meant more for Wonwoo's tall frame, but it compliments Soonyoung's fair complexion and that's enough to make his throat dry. Jihoon, terribly sneaky as he is, keeps giggling as he stuffs his face with chips.

  
"You know, Wonwoo," he says casually. "Everyone knew it was a long time coming."

  
It's only because he's so attuned to Soonyoung that he feels the elder stiffen ever so slightly next to him.

  
"I could never resist him."

  
And it's only because he knows Soonyoung so well that he knows that tone of voice isn't as casual as he makes it sound. There's something hiding, lurking there.

  
"I could always resist you." Another lie.

  
There’s a stifling tension that descends upon the table, or at least, between the two of them. For the first time in ages, Soonyoung isn’t rattling off at 140 words per minute and it's weird to eat in silence when Wonwoo is painfully accustomed to the sound of Soonyoung’s voice.

  
*

  
Something about what Jihoon says hits a bit too close to home. Everyone knew it was a long time coming. Does that mean everyone had realised except Wonwoo? Because Soonyoung knows where he stands: hoping, praying for some kind of chance at this, at anything Wonwoo could give him. At some point, their friends had picked up on Soonyoung’s subtle favouritism, as easy as giving Wonwoo his complete attention and as hard as taking care of a hungover teenager.

  
He knows why he didn't kiss Wonwoo in the broom closet, the reason being as simple as realising how much the brunette would agonize over what happens. Jeon Wonwoo, Mr Internalise Everything. He did, on the other hand, intentionally tie his own scarf around Wonwoo's neck, out of some deeply rooted need to mark Wonwoo as his. Wonwoo's scarf was softer, Soonyoung had spent years with it tickling his cheek whenever he leaned on Wonwoo.

  
Wonwoo keeps glancing at him, the tiniest of frowns creasing his forehead. He knows that look: _Jeon Wonwoo is worried but won't push it_. Soonyoung has every expression catalogued from times that Wonwoo doesn't talk much. He's just been exceptionally good at figuring out the inner machinations of Wonwoo's mind.

  
An enigma only he (most of the time) can puzzle out. Soonyoung can read the hesitation on Wonwoo's face, the way he appears to be holding back from saying something. He plays with his food and thinks of all the possible confessions he had lined up. He had been leaning towards choreographing a dance for Wonwoo but something is telling him do it today, do it now, don't waste another second.  
  


And then it comes to him, clear in his head. The astronomy tower. They've spent years on the smooth floors, talking, falling asleep, rinse, repeat. Maybe he'd sneak some of Wonwoo's favourite foods from the kitchens. And maybe, he'd never have to read Wonwoo's face again. Soonyoung could hold his hand instead. He smiles to himself and excuses himself from the table, missing Wonwoo's look of desperate frustration.  
  


*

  
Lying in bed, he wonders where in life he went wrong. Probably the moment Boo Seungkwan said to kiss Kwon Soonyoung. Or the moment he entered the Great Hall with a Gryffindor scarf around his neck. He never got a kiss, and may have lost a friend in the process. An aggressive tapping against his window breaks his train of moping and he sees Soonyoung's owl, Hosh. Hosh swoops in when he opens the window, and Wonwoo feeds him the pellets he leaves for his own owl.  
  


There's a note, and he can barely decipher the scrawled, " _meet at the astronomy tower_ ". He's glad that Hogwarts has long since loosened its rules on being out at night, sometimes even being lenient on the students that sneak off to Hogsmeade. It's the same ruling that time and time again, has allowed him to camp out with Soonyoung at the tower.  
  


"What did you want to talk about?"  
  


"Things. Jobs. NEWTs."  
  


"You? Worrying about NEWTs?" Wonwoo laughs.  
  


Soonyoung isn't in Ravenclaw, but him being in Gryffindor doesn't mean he's bad. He just speaks a different language, is all. Movement and circles and the steady beat of 5, 6, 7, 8. Wood under his hands, Seungcheol’s shouting, evading tactics. It translates into his magic, the ease at which he does things wandlessly. The only spell Wonwoo is capable of doing wandless is lumos, but his light orbs aren't nearly half as bright as Soonyoung's. Or multicoloured.  
  


"Lumos." The space around them is awash in multicoloured lights.  
  


"Show-off."  
  


"Jealous, Jeon Wonwoo?"  
  


And this is their relationship. The ease of them coexisting, the endless barrage of teasing. There's the pushing; _do your best, do your best, always do your best, I believe in you Wonwoo_. Yet there's also the effortlessness of it, like the Earth revolving around the Sun. And god, Soonyoung is the sun. Especially when he has multicoloured light reflecting off the soft skin of his face.  
  


(The bottom line is that Wonwoo's still wearing a Gryffindor scarf.)  
  


"Wonwoo?" Soonyoung tilts his head.  
  


"I'm not jealous."  
  


The elder smiles and Wonwoo wants.  
  


"Can we try something?" Soonyoung almost sounds hesitant, even though it’s _never_ a quality Wonwoo would associate with him.  
  


"Is there anything left that I haven't tried with you?" Wonwoo shoots back.  
  


"Yes. One thing."  
  


There's a flurry of movement and then he has a very warm Soonyoung in his arms, kissing him. It's everything he's wanted for a while now and he doesn't hesitate to kiss Soonyoung back, hands settling on his waist and pulling him closer. It's like Wonwoo can't get close enough to Soonyoung fast enough, two meteors hurtling at each other, uncaring of impact. There's desperation to the way Wonwoo moves against Soonyoung, like this is the first and the last kiss they'll share, but Soonyoung doesn't mirror that urgency.  
  


"Calm down," Soonyoung whispers against his lips. "Follow my pace."  
  


"Okay," he murmurs. "Anything."  
  


Soonyoung kisses like he's staking a claim. Or better yet, like it's one of his performance pieces that he's pouring his heart into. It feels like Wonwoo is swallowing his heart, little by little. Soonyoung teeth catch on his lower lip and he moans, he can't help it. He's always liked being bitten or biting someone. Soonyoung's always been on the receiving end of it, albeit more innocently. He can feel the elder’s warmth radiate where his hands are on his waist, and hesitantly sucks Soonyoung’s lower lip into his mouth. The cut off moan that Soonyoung makes is enough to have Wonwoo shivering, pulling away from the kiss to breathe.  
  


"I can't believe it took a dare for me to do this." Soonyoung is grinning.  
  


Wonwoo's heart breaks.  
  


"So this was just a dare?"  
  


He doesn't get angry, not really. He just shuts the world out. It feels like he’s being drowned, a rush of noise in his ears. He pushes Soonyoung away, and the self disgust he feels is overwhelming, like he's 12 and figuring out he likes boys more than girls all over again.  
  


"Wonwoo. Wonu-ya. Look at me." Soonyoung's hands shouldn't be so soft on his face, his eyes shouldn't shine as bright as they do.  
  


"For the longest time, I've been in love with you. Maybe sometime back when you told me you liked boys, something I never had to tell you. But I want this. I want you, want us. You give us your heart and you don't ask for much in return. Let me make you happy, Wonu. Give me a shot. Take this chance, take it on me. Please?"  
  


"Okay," he whispers. "Okay." he says louder.  
  


"Okay," Soonyoung repeats, pecking him repeatedly, again and again. "Let go, Wonu."  
  


_I'll catch you_ , is his unsaid promise. Wonwoo can accept that promise and he can learn to accept this for himself. Good things come, good things stay, and Soonyoung is the best thing. And this joy is like being 6 and finding presents under the Christmas tree, or swinging so very high on the tree. Innocent, pure, carefree, a whole life stretching out that he can see Soonyoung in.  
  


The looks Wonwoo gets at breakfast from the Gryffindor scarf still snug around his neck are priceless. The reactions double when he chooses to sit at the Gryffindor table, Soonyoung sitting on his lap.  
  


“Looks like I missed a wild night,” Seungcheol says drily, buttering his toast.  
  


Next to him, Chan is openly gaping. Behind Chan at the Hufflepuff table, Wonwoo is pretty sure he sees Mingyu and Seokmin passing Galleons to a very smug looking Vernon and Seungkwan. Wonwoo simply smiles. Everything starts, as it always does, with Seungkwan opening his mouth.

 

Everything ends, as it always will, with Kwon Soonyoung kissing Jeon Wonwoo with the brightest smile on his face.  
  
  
  
  



End file.
